Almost August - the Balearics boil over

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Spotlight on 31 lug, 2006

This month's big six events.

Officially we're at the half way point of the four month Ibiza club season, but really the peak is yet to come. August is when it get really intense here. The crowds are insane, the prices the most eye-watering, the sun brutal and the demand for electricity insatiable.

Wonderland @ Blue Marlin - July 28, 2006

Blue Marlin - July 28, 2006

The silence from those that predicted Ibiza's demise as a mass market tourist destination is deafening. Figures for July obviously haven't been calculated yet but June hotel occupancy was up and Aena (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea) counted almost 650,000 plane passengers in that same month - ten per cent up on last year - and over 1.5 million so far this year. (Figures include both inward and outward journeys, but not those who traveled on ferries and other floating craft.)

For some the fact that the White Isle caters to families, retirees, club kids, lager lads, Aftershock lasses, hippies and urban-based sophisticates from all over the world is a cause for scorn. Ibiza's clubs have huge rooms and no dress codes. Sure there are zones of exclusivity but interestingly they normally overlook the pit where the masses mosh. Take Pacha, Privilege, El Divino or Amnesia's VIP for example - it costs several hundred euros to sit down at a table (drinks included) in full view of the raving proletariat.

Click here for a forum discussion on club VIP areas

Clearly partying can be expensive and like anywhere else money, or more accurately access to credit, sets people apart. Prices for club entry go from 60€ for the most popular nights to zero euros and booze from 18€ for a vodka and red bull at Space to three for a pint of San Miguel at Bar M.

But it's this juxtaposition of disparate elements that is the true definition of the Balearic style. It's not a genre of house music, nor a mode of dress. It's minimal techno next to r'n'b next to rock next to old next to new. It's Alfredo fusing music as he djs at Amnesia in the 80s. It's 23 nationalities in one club last week. It's a bloody great motorway at one end of the island and dusty dirt tracks at the other. It's Paris Hilton at Cream. It's literally kicking off right now. We're going to Dc10. See you in there.

Jade Jagger, Paris Hilton at Jezebel @ L'Elephant - July 28, 2006